A force of nature
by Milena Jace
Summary: SW:TOR. Quinn's musings during the end of chapter 3 of the SW story. SPOILERS. Don't read if you haven't reached Corellia in the game. Seriously, don't.


WARNING: again, SPOILERS. Don't read if you did not reach the end of Chapter 3 of the Sith Warrior storyline.

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><p>That particular plot turn left me very conflicted. It just did not seem to make sense (and was very hurtful and unexpected. Bioware do indeed feed off out tears, it seems). But then I realized three things. First, those droids weren't even Elite, what could he possibly hope for? Second, over the course of the game, Quinn did indeed prove himself as a brilliant strategist who wouldn't make such a weak attempt at assassination. Third, in some playthroughs he can already be married to SW and talk about children.<p>

So… just needed to express.

Disclaimer: SW:TOR belongs to Bioware, of course.

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><p>Quinn watched as she swept through the ship like a force of nature: just as powerful, pure and unstoppable. That raw power was in everything she did. It was in her fluid confident movements during the many fights they've been through to get to this point, in the way she walked, in the feral grin she wore both when striking down her enemies and when shamelessly, infuriatingly flirting with him. Yet she was strangely pure, so young and brilliant, so open with her emotions. Pushed somewhere in the back of his mind was envy mixed with admiration of her reckless freedom – and fear of inevitable doom her free spirit would bring upon her. Yet she was completely unable to feel anything halfway, it seemed. And she inexplicably, unbelievably trusted him with the same strength of conviction she now hated Baras with for the betrayal someone as smart as her should have foreseen.<p>

She was beautiful. He loved her.

It was still mind boggling to him how easily it was to fool her with that half-cooked story about the martial law. She never even bothered to check his words, simply turning to him for a way around that problem, like she always did, which he readily offered, like he always did. But far too readily this time. She was smart, far too smart to fall into such a simple trap. In a way, it was disappointing. In a way, it made him fear even more that one day her power would not be enough to protect her if she did not get rid of this foolish trust in her crew.

Then again, perhaps today would be the day she got rid of it once and for all.

It would've been such a simple assignment… If only she did not keep pestering him in that infuriatingly easy manner that did not become a sith lord. If only she wasn't so radiantly charismatic. If only she wasn't so fiercely protective of those she called her crew.

He tried resisting her, but how did you resist a force of nature? When it was obvious he would be unable to fulfill his true mission aboard her ship, he tried convincing her to reassign him. It would appear to be her decision and Baras would not be able to do anything about it, and it would put Quinn into a position from where he could not harm her. But he was a coward, in more ways than one. Baras's clutch on him was too strong; would he be able to ignore the dark lord's retaliation if he refused to carry out his orders? She would protect him without thinking, he knew, but it wasn't what Baras could do to him that Quinn feared, it was what the Sith lord could reveal. It was true that Quinn owed his career to Darth Baras, he told her this, but she didn't know the whole truth. No one did, except for him and Baras. But he also did not truly want to leave, and that was another reason he feared to be too convincing.

It was because of that fear that he now had only one choice. And now he had no time left.

She plunged her lightsaber into the lock, cutting it like butter with a hot knife, and stepped back to observe her handiwork with a satisfied grin. She always did like breaking things, if only to make a spectacular entrance. She would've enjoyed breaking what he had prepared for her, but he was sure she'd be too angry at that point for that. She would probably enjoy breaking him, however.

The grin faded into confusion as she walked into an empty room. "Are you sure this is the place?" she asked Quinn over her shoulder. He remained standing just inside, blocking the only way out.

"Quite," he simply answered.

"Well, it's not here. Backup plan?" she still did not even think to suspect him of foul play. It was unbelievable. And it made what he was going to do all the more difficult.

"Ready, my lord," he turned to the panel near the door and pushed a few buttons. She simply nodded, waiting. The door on the other side of the room opened, revealing two battle droids.

"_That's_ your backup plan?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yes." He told her then of his true allegiances, of Baras's orders to eliminate her, of observing her all that time to analyze her strengths and weaknesses, of programming those droids with those strengths and weaknesses in mind… He tried painfully to maintain the cold calculating exterior he knew would infuriate her.

Her eyes widened, she made a step back, and for a moment – a horrifying moment, - he thought that he miscalculated, that she would just give up and force him to shoot her because he pushed her too far. But then her grip on the lightsaber tightened and she rushed at the droids with grim determination on her face. He wished he could see that feral grin one last time.

It did not take her long to deal with the droids, - he did, after all, take great pains to program them with her strengths and weaknesses in mind, - but he hoped that, blinded by anger, she'd never ask herself why. And then she turned to him. That was it. His time had run out. Quinn felt himself being lifted off the ground and thrown into to wall. He expected to feel tightening grip on his throat, her squeezing life from him like the Sith often did with those who failed them, but instead he was simply held there, unable to move a finger.

She approached him slowly, the lightsaber still humming in her hand, her lips a thin line. He wanted to close his eyes before the inevitable end, but forced himself to keep watching her. She was beautiful, even disheveled and angry as she was. Perhaps especially beautiful then in that deadly way, like a force of nature. But he could never tell her. It all went as he had planned, and now only one stroke remained to ensure both her survival and the safety of his secret.

She came closer to him until they almost touched, until all he could see were the tears glistening in her unblinking eyes. Those eyes bore into him, and he was unable to look away, mesmerized. Perhaps he was already dead. Perhaps that last moment before she delivered the killing blow stretched into eternity. All he knew with certainty was that Sith did not cry. And that Sith did not cry for traitors.

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><p>Author's note: still working on my other stories. Just really busy at work right now (and really hating Quinn's betrayal, even though I like him much better when he's all cold and calculating, not flustered and "infant contingency report" this and "my lord" that)<p> 


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